A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words
by bloodyblond
Summary: "How do you tell someone you've loved them before you even met them?" A mysterious and unassuming photo booth changes a lonely Jasper's life forever.
1. Why Don't You Take a Picture?

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

**_A/N: So I had this dream a few weeks ago where I was sitting in a Photo Booth getting my picture taken, only when the photos came out, they were pictures of me when I was a kid. When I woke, I immediately got an idea _****_- feeling very Stephanie Meyerish I might add -_****_for this quick little two - possibly three - shot._ **

_**I also decided this would be a great time to continue to test the 'let's make Alice and Edward nice' waters, so just to make it clear from the beginning, Alice is mated to Edward NOT Jasper and, as much as it pains me, Peter and Charlotte DO NOT exist. He left the Southern Wars of his own accord. **_

* * *

Jasper blinked as he tried to ignore the urge to shield his sensitive eyes from the harsh glare of the brightly lit jewellery store. He shot a brief look down at his hands, fully expecting them to be sparkling thanks to the glow that rivaled the sun in intensity and wondered if the bright fluorescents made him look even deader than he already did.

His golden eyes half-heartedly scanned the medium sized store for a reflective surface to check his appearance in, pausing on the only saleswoman in the store and silently begging her to finish up with the customers she was currently with so he could get the hell out of here.

_They're not going to buy anything anyways, lady, _he thought snidely as he tested their emotions. The youngish looking man was clearly uneasy – he didn't even need to be an empath to know that thanks to the man's subtle squirming – and the equally aged woman was wistful. Both of them knew they could never afford anything in this store and Jasper was frustrated that they were just wasting the saleswoman's time.

He briefly contemplated staring at them until they grew uncomfortable enough to leave, but he knew his companion wouldn't appreciate it. She never failed to chastise him when he tried to move things along – almost always when humans were involved – with a well placed glare and a few manufactured emotions.

Even if it was (_kinda_) for her benefit.

He sighed and shifted his gaze to the petite vampiress bouncing lightly on her toes as she browsed the display cases.

"How much longer are you going to be?"

Jasper scowled when she completely ignored his question and continued to peruse the glass case in front of her.

"What do you think?" she asked, sliding one manicured finger from a watch to a chunky silver bracelet.

"I think," Jasper countered, "that we've been here too long already. Who spends five hours in a mall?"

She finally looked up, amusement sparkling in her golden eyes and cocked one dark eyebrow. "I'm sorry, clearly we haven't met before." She held out her hand. "I'm Alice and you are?" she quipped cheekily.

Jasper rolled his eyes and playfully batted her hand away. "I'm bored."

"You're the one that offered to take me shopping for Edward's gift," Alice reminded him, turning back to stare contemplatively into the glass case.

"No," Jasper drawled slowly. "You asked me in that sneaky, _'I've already seen you say yes'_ way I hate."

Alice tilted her head and smiled innocently at him – as if to say, _'Would I do that?'_

Jasper snorted and began tapping his foot impatiently.

"Edward never complains this much," Alice said sternly, looking pointedly at his tapping foot until he stopped.

"Well, maybe you should've asked Edward to bring you here."

"I can't ask Edward to take me shopping for his _own_ birthday gift," she replied, scandalized. "Now," she continued, gently tapping the glass. "Make some use of yourself and tell me which he'd prefer."

Jasper eyed the items she was pointing at – both with price tags that would make a normal, blue collared person cringe – and sighed. "I don't know, Alice. Why don't you use your gift and see which one he'd like better."

Her pink glossed lower lip poked out in a pout. "Where's the fun in that?"

"Hasn't stopped you from doing it before," he pointed out.

"Yeah, for _you_ guys."

"What's the difference?"

"You're my family, Edward's my mate," she replied matter-of-factly. "He gets the gold treatment. No shortcuts."

"I'm sure the others will be thrilled to learn how insignificant they all are," he retorted sarcastically.

She stuck her tongue out. "That threat would hold more heat if I didn't know for a fact that everyone always _loves_ the gifts I give them. Haven't picked a bad one yet," she boasted proudly.

Jasper sighed in relief when the uptight saleswoman finally finished with the customers she was with and glided over towards them. Stopping directly in front of Alice on the other side of the case, the light overhead caught the gold name tag attached to the right pocket of her grey dress jacket, which had _Phyllis_ stenciled across it in thick black letters.

"May I help you?" she asked disdainfully, giving them the stink eye something fierce, as if – despite the clearly designer clothes Alice wore – they had just wandered in from the nearest homeless shelter.

"Yes," Alice chirped. "I'm trying to decide on a gift for my husband."

Phyllis gave her a slow once over, obviously noting Alice's small stature – even in the five inch heels she wore – and young features and cocked one overly plucked eyebrow. "Husband?" she repeated dubiously.

"Yes, _husband_," Alice replied firmly, a hint of ice in her normally sweet voice.

Jasper knew Alice had no problem with people commenting on her age – all of them had gotten used to it a long time ago – but to question her marriage as if it was somehow wrong or unnatural was a sure fire way to get on her bad side.

The woman still looked skeptical and Jasper could practically see her mind swirling with a carefully planned speech that would probably be along the lines of, _"Listen sweetheart, why don't you try something more in your price range. Perhaps Walmart."_

Alice reached into her large purse and withdrew a small, thin object. "I sure hope you can help me with that," she said sweetly, a hint of a smirk dancing on her pink lips as she tapped her Black Card against the countertop.

Jasper almost laughed as the haughtiness on Phyllis's face was replaced with a well rehearsed helpful look – though her emotions swirled heavily with glee and greed. He winced as the cloying emotions reminded him why he wanted to leave in the first place.

Normally he had pretty good control over his gift, but after five hours in a crowded mall – on a Friday of all days – he was beginning to feel the strain. It intensified when the couple eyeing the rings in the display case just outside the store began to argue loudly.

Alice turned to him with a secretive 'money trumps everything' smile that slid off her face when she saw the cringe on his.

"Jas?" she said softly, stepping away from the counter and lightly touching his shoulder in concern. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he replied, knowing that his strained smile completely contradicted his words.

Alice looked around him at the couple still bickering and scowled. "Haven't those people ever heard of keeping it in the home?" she muttered. She looked back up at him, her eyes soft with understanding. "We can leave now if you want."

He smirked slightly when Phyllis looked positively crushed at the idea.

"You still haven't found a present for Edward," he reminded her.

"Tomorrow is another day," she replied in a whimsical Southern accent.

He laughed at her impression before smoothing his face out into a stern, no-nonsense look. "That would mean those five hours we spent looking have been for nothing. We're staying until you find something."

Alice pouted prettily, looking torn between wanting to agree – she was for anything that let her keep shopping – and wanting to argue.

"Alright," she conceded. "Fifteen more minutes. But," she shook her finger at him, "I want you to wait for me down in the south wing."

He frowned. "Why the south wing?"

"There's only one store down that way and it's currently being renovated." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "There won't be very many people down there."

He looked over his shoulder in the direction Alice was suggesting. "Fifteen minutes?" he confirmed.

She nodded. "Promise."

"Okay," Jasper agreed, shoving his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. "I'll be waiting for you there."

"Don't worry," Phyllis called out in a voice dripping with false sweetness as he turned to leave. "I'll take good care of her."

Jasper paused as he sensed the woman's emotions.

Though they weren't as straightforward as say, happiness, sadness or anger, it wasn't hard for him to paint a picture with the vibes she was sending out. She was clearly ecstatic that the 'man' was leaving so she could finally pull one over on the presumably ditzy rich girl and milk her for all she was worth.

Turning back, he was a little surprised she wasn't superimposed with a top hat and a thin, curly mustache, steepling her hands together in malevolent glee.

He knew Alice was anything but ditzy – in fact she could probably skillfully negotiate a better price if she really wanted to – but this uppity bitch with her pinched face was getting on his last nerve. She was the human equivalent of a vampire – sucking people dry of their hard earned money without a care in the world.

"Hey, Alice," he called out, once again drawing her attention away from the jewellery she was eying. "You know that little art store tucked into the corner across from those two stores you love so much?"

She nodded excitedly – though Jasper suspected it was more in remembrance of her favorite stores than it was for the art store.

"Well, there's this painting in the window that I caught Edward eyeballing last week." He had actually planned on buying it for Edward himself, but if he got to pull the rug out from underneath this bitch saleswoman's feet, he'd be more than happy to let Alice buy it and simply get him something else.

"Really?" Alice asked hopefully, beginning to bounce lightly on the toes of her feet.

"Mmhm," he hummed, ignoring the dark glare being directed at him by Phyllis. "Mighty nice one too. It'd look great on that big ol' blank space on your bedroom wall that you can't decide what to do with."

"Sold!" Alice exclaimed with a giggle. She turned to the woman who had managed to school her features into a benignly placid look, but the throbbing at her temples spoiled the effect. "Thank you _so_ much for your help," Alice cooed insincerely. "I'm sorry for wasting your time."

She skipped over to Jasper and looped her arm with his, practically dragging him out of the store. In lieu of the finger he really wanted to give, Jasper offered the stone faced woman a flick of his hand in an abbreviated wave – laughing when she cursed him softly under her breath.

They split up when they came to a fork – Alice pushing him in the direction of the south wing she had mentioned earlier, once again promising him, "Fifteen minutes."

It was as deserted as she said it would be – with nothing more than a few benches, some sort of large rectangular shaped thing shoved into the corner, a bank of candy and toy vending machines and a boarded up storefront emblazoned with a group of laughing teens and a sign that proclaimed, **_RE-OPENING SOON._**

Jasper sighed when the buzzing conversation softened to a faint hum and the swirl of emotions faded into the background. Not gone completely of course, but definitely muted enough that he could finally concentrate on something other than how miserable everyone at this mall seemed to be.

As Jasper settled into one of the benches, he made a mental note to feed on a bear (possibly two) the next time Alice forced – sorry, _asked without asking_ – him to come to the mall with her. He had fed on a few deer before coming and had been able to maintain firm control on the _sensing_ part of his emphatic gift – he always had complete control of the _manipulating_ part – but with so many people around, it had begun to taper off near the end.

He kicked his feet out and contemplated what he was going to do while he waited. Even though Alice had promised fifteen minutes, knowing her as well as he did, it'd probably be closer to a half an hour. An hour if she saw a sale.

He chuckled. It had probably been a bad idea to send her off in the direction of her favorite stores.

He pulled his cell phone out and began to fiddle around with a game Emmett had insisted he download. When it proved to be little more than a menace to his already frayed nerves, Jasper closed the app and shoved the phone back into his pocket.

Whistling a nonsensical tune, he scanned the area. His gaze stopped on the bank of vending machines he had spotted earlier and he considered buying one of the cheap bouncy balls to pass the time with. He decided against it and continued to lazily look around. Spotting the large rectangular shape in the corner, he leaned back in the bench. From this angle, he could make out the faded print that spelled: **_PHOTO_** and see the corner of a piece of heavy black fabric.

_ A photo booth,_ he deduced, pushing himself off the bench to get a closer look.

The closer he got, the more dilapidated it looked. The pictures on it were so faded that you couldn't even make out the faces. There was a small patch of rust in the bottom right corner and the curtain that covered the door was slightly ragged and torn at the bottom.

There was something else written underneath the words **_PHOTO_** and even with his superior eyesight, Jasper practically had to squint to read the faded and chipped print.

**_GET A PICTURE OF YOU AND YOUR – _**

That was all he was able to make out. The last word was worn away too much read. With a shrug, he assumed that, at one time, it had said 'friends'.

Underneath that – in surprisingly clear lettering – was the price.

**_3 for 5.00_**

Jasper glanced at the (still) empty area behind him, slightly embarrassed that he was even considering using this dinosaur in the first place.

_Probably doesn't even work,_ he thought, digging out his battered leather wallet and extracting a crisp five dollar bill. _But, I might as well try for Esme's sake._

He wasn't exactly what you'd call photogenic and Esme had been hounding him for years for a picture to add to the family album. She had attempted to get her own in the past, but he was always two steps ahead of her – holding his hand in front of his face seconds before the flash went off. He had gotten so good at evading her that not even Alice's gift couldn't help with the endeavor.

Esme's birthday was a little more than a month after Edward's and supposed that after everything her and Carlisle had done for him, it was the least he could do.

There was a soft mechanical whirr as the money slot ate up his bill and Jasper spared one last look over his shoulder before darting into the booth and pulling the curtain shut behind him.

**-oo-**

For such a cramped looking box on the outside, it was oddly roomy inside, allowing his 6'1 frame to stand comfortably without having to stoop over. And the interior wasn't cracked and peeling like he expected, but looked practically brand new instead.

He sat down on the provided stool and shifted uncomfortably when he realized he had no idea what to do next.

_Is it supposed to start automatically?_ he wondered, before his attention was drawn to a softly blinking light that had **PUSH TO BEGIN** stamped in dark red letters.

He followed the instructions and plastered his best, 'I'm a good ol' country boy' smile on his face, trying not to wince when the light flashed in his sensitive eyes. His smile became a smirk for the next one, and for the third – vowing that he'd never let anyone see it – Jasper decided to go a little silly. He quickly stuck his fingers behind his ears, stuck his tongue in the corner of his mouth and crossed his eyes just in time for the last flash.

A minute later he was leaning against the booth as he waited for the pictures to develop, doing his best to ignore the flirty glance from the teen girl who apparently didn't realize that the store she had wandered down here for was currently undergoing renovations.

The pictures were done by the time she had disappointedly stomped off. The delivery was strangely silent for such a clunky machine and, as Jasper reached for them, he was surprised to see that they weren't the black and white strip he was expecting. Instead they were a set of three separate glossy color pictures, slightly smaller than a regular size photo.

He pulled out the thin slips, taking a moment to marvel at the crystal clear quality, before turning his attention to his visage. He grinned at the look on his face, thinking that he had put a little too much smarm into his smile.

His grin dimmed as he studied the burnished gold of his eyes, slightly unnerved by the look in them. The rest of his face looked happy, but his eyes said differently.

Most of the time, Jasper could easily say he was content with his life, but being surrounded by three mated pairs that were stupidly in love, he couldn't help but feel like something was missing. Lately it seemed like a single day couldn't go by without something making him realize how lonely he was.

Alice kept promising him that he'd meet someone eventually – though, when prodded, she was never able to tell him exactly when or even what she looked like – but after fifty years of hearing it, her assurances were slowly starting to become nothing more than empty promises.

He grimaced, feeling silly for the melancholy direction his thoughts had gone and flipped to the next picture.

If he had breath, it would have been sucked from his lungs.

Instead of the small smirk he had sported, there was a wide, genuine smile stretched across his lips. But the different look on his face wasn't what had stunned him.

No, it was the beautiful brunette girl he had wrapped in his arms.

Long, dark brown hair framed a pale, heart-shaped face and spilled over the shoulders of her forest green sweater. Tendrils of it wisped around her delicate cheekbones which were flushed lightly with a rosy glow of happiness. Her brown eyes sparkled with warmth and affection, the smile on her pale rose lips was just as wide and genuine as his.

For a brief moment (a very brief moment) Jasper was able to convince himself that it was simply some sort of double exposure and there was probably some pissed brunette girl walking around the mall muttering about some crappy photo booth not giving her her pictures. But when he saw how closely their cheeks were pressed together and the way her long brown locks and his own shorter blond ones were intermingled, he knew the machine hadn't malfunctioned.

In a moment of misguided insanity, Jasper yanked back the curtain and stared inside the obviously empty booth – a part of him truly expecting to see in a girl in there who would smile up at him the same way she had done in the picture. His nose twitched and his brow furrowed slightly when he caught the faint scent of peaches lingering in the small booth – a scent that had definitely _not_ been there a few minutes earlier.

He jerked back out of the booth – almost ripping the curtain in the process – and with growing trepidation flipped to the next picture, unable to stop the choking sound from escaping his lips.

The silly pose he had done was the same, but now with the added addition of Bunny ears behind his head.

And the girl – undoubtedly beautiful before – was now a stunning example of vampirification.

Her previously pale skin now lacked the pink flush of life high in her cheeks and was now a pale white – as if made of moonlight itself – and her hair was closer to mahogany now than the dark brown it had been in the last picture. Her ruby lips, the bottom slighter plumper now, were pursed around her pink tongue as if blowing a raspberry and she was holding a piece of her hair across her upper lip as a faux mustache.

The flash reflected off a slim gold wedding band– which was almost an exact replica to the color of her eyes – on the finger of the left hand that held her hair. Numbly, Jasper shifted his gaze to his own hands, which he could just make out through the shaggy curtain of his chin length locks, and spotted a similar band.

And his eyes...

The loneliness was completely gone from them, replaced instead with love and contentment that was so powerful; it was like a supernova had gone off behind them.

He didn't even remember walking back over to the bench, but it was thankful that it was there to catch him when his knees gave out. (Though the ominous cracking protest it gave when he sat heavily on it, probably was a sign that the feeling wasn't returned.)

He flipped back and forth between the human version of the girl and the vampire one, noting how the subtle changes only enhanced her beauty.

He was convinced she was the most perfect girl he'd ever seen.

_But who is she?_ he wondered desperately, tracing a hand over her human features. He tilted his head back in thought as he went over every female he had ever encountered in his long life and came up empty. Whoever she was, he hadn't met her before.

So what did this mean?

He tore his gaze away from the photo and looked back towards the inconspicuous looking booth – sitting there innocently, unaware that it had just rocked his entire foundation to its core.

He heard the familiar _click click_ of heels that announced Alice's imminent arrival and though he couldn't explain why, he found himself shoving the pictures into the inside pocket of his jacket.

"You were right, Jasper," she sang when she finally reached him. Her arms were hugging a wrapped painting that was almost as big as her and, as he expected, several large bags were dangling from her elbows.

"That painting was fabulous! It'll look great in our room. I almost feel guilty that I'm going to get just as much enjoyment out of this as Edward is." She smiled wickedly. "Although," she added, shaking her left arm and drawing his attention to a bag blazoned with the La Perla logo, "I'll make sure Edward gets _all_ sorts of enjoyment with this."

When he failed to react with his customary 'gag me' face, Alice's smile faltered and was replaced with concern. "Are you not feeling better?" she asked, scanning the empty space around them. "Was there people here?"

He shook his head. "No I just..." he trailed off and stared searchingly at her. "Did you send me down here for a reason?"

Her answering smile was a little confused. "Of course," she said. "You needed to get away from all the people and I knew this was the only part of the mall that would be deserted. I would've told you to wait in the car, but I saw that someone had gotten into a fender bender in the parking lot."

"Okay, but did you send me down here for any _other_ reason?" he stressed.

The growing confusion in her eyes as well as her emotions was 100% genuine. He knew that sometimes she kept silent out of a desire to protect the future – or out of respect to him and their family, so they wouldn't feel like she was trying to control their lives – but this time she honestly had no clue what he was talking about.

"I don't –" Her words transformed into an ecstatic squeal that startled Jasper. "A photo booth! I've always wanted to try one of those!"

He watched flabbergasted as she shoved the painting at him, telling him to, "Hold this," before bouncing eagerly towards the booth. He trailed silently behind her, unsure if what had happened with his pictures even warranted a warning.

He continued to stay silent as Alice dug noisily through her purse for money, once again staring at the words that said:

**_TAKE A PICTURE OF YOU AND YOUR – _**

"Aha!" Alice exclaimed, triumphantly removing a slightly crumpled bill form her bag. She smoothed it out on the side of the booth and gleefully offered it to the money slot.

Nothing happened.

There was no mechanical whirr and the money remained unmoving in her hand. Even the gentle hum of electricity Jasper had clearly heard earlier was missing.

Alice attempted to force the bill into the slot for a few seconds, before finally giving up. "Oh phooey," she complained. "I guess it doesn't work."

_Yes it does, _was on the tip of Jasper's tongue, but he didn't give voice to it.

For some reason, a part of him felt like these pictures were for his eyes only and if he gave them to Alice, the girl would disappear and it would be nothing more than a picture of himself – with the same loneliness lingering in his eyes.

"Oh well," Alice huffed. "That's what camera's are for." Her golden eyes twinkled mischievously. "And with this lingerie, Edward is going to have himself one hell of a birthday."

Jasper pulled a face. "Ugg."

Her smile brightened. "Glad to see you back, Jas." Her hand reached out to touch his elbow. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Although his thoughts were still in turmoil, he managed to flash her a lopsided grin. "I'm fine, Ali-cat."

She scowled playfully. "Don't call me that, _Jazzy_."

He chuckled at his equally hated nickname. "Fair enough. Now are you finally ready to go?"

"Yes. Unless you..."

"No," he interrupted firmly, already walking off.

"Spoilsport," she muttered, but gamely followed after him. "You'll let me hide that in your room until Edward's birthday, right?"

"Of course," he agreed. "Where else would you put it? In Rose and Emmett's room? We both know that boy can't keep a secret to save his life."

Alice chuckled. "I still haven't forgiven him for ruining Rose's surprise party last year."

"Your fault for not seeing it coming," he quipped.

He yelped when the pointy toe of one of Alice's thousand dollar heels kicked him hard in the shin. "Watch it, Whitlock," she hissed.

They finally reached the entrance and Jasper manoeuvred himself sideways, nudging his shoulder against the door. He was stopped halfway through by a hand on his leather clad elbow and shifted the painting in his arms so he could look back at Alice.

"Are you sure everything is fine?" she questioned softly. Her gaze was distant – the same inward look she got whenever she was scanning the future.

He shifted uneasily, feeling the photos burn a hole in his breast pocket as he wondered if she saw anything. Almost as if hearing his unasked question, her head gave a little shake, and her golden eyes once again focused on him.

"I haven't..." she began hesitantly before pausing with a frown. "I _don't_ see anything, nothing that raises any red flags, I mean. But you must've asked for a reason." She scanned his face searchingly. "Why did you ask?"

The pictures got hotter.

"I..." He couldn't do it. "Since I'm a little overwhelmed today, I just thought that you..." he swallowed down the lump in his throat as he forced the lie through his lips, "... sent me down there because you saw me slipping or something." Immediately guilty (and incredibly relieved that he was the empath in the family and not her) he broke eye contact, knowing that Alice would mistake it for shame at his supposed weakness.

She did.

"Jas," she murmured, giving him a hug as much as she could around the painting he held. "You really need to have more faith in yourself." She pulled back and patted his cheek, flashing him a warm smile that only succeeded in making him feel even worse. "Now, let's get you home and get you something to eat!" She laughed and winked as she said _eat_ and he allowed a small smile to cross his lips in response.

As she chattered at him in a one sided conversation all the way home, Jasper wondered if he would ever tell her or the others about those pictures.

He wondered the same thing five days later when Edward questioned why he kept singing the lyrics to 'Brown Eyed Girl' in his head.

And again five weeks later when he was giving Esme a small porcelain 'Mother' figurine for her birthday instead of the picture he had originally intended.

And yet again five months later when Emmett finally called him out for staring at every brown haired girl they encountered.

He was still wondering five years later – his hope that this girl actually existed as faded as the pictures were at this point– when Carlisle suddenly announced that he had accepted a new position.

In a small, sleepy town called Forks.

* * *

_**Hmm... so, 'Take a Picture of You and Your...'**_

_**Was Jasper right, did it really say friends at one point?**_

_**And why wouldn't it work for Alice?  
**_

_**Any guesses? ;D**_


	2. A Picture Come To Life

**Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.**

_**A/N: I can't even begin to apologize for how late this is. **_

_**Now that I no longer have I See Dead People as my focal point, all the story ideas in my head are waged in an all out Battle Royale. It has been near impossible to concentrate on just one when my mind is telling me, "Of course it's a good idea to try to write six different stories at once! And don't forget all these drabbles and one-shots!"  
**_

_**My mind is an asshole.**_

* * *

Jasper chewed lazily on his plastic spork – compliments of the untouched meal in front of him – and tried his best to tune out the emotions of a cafeteria full of hormonal teenagers.

Edward didn't appear to be faring any better and he chuckled when the mind reader fixed a disgusted glare on the girl that had just walked past their table and scooted closer to his mate in a clear, _'I'm taken'_, move. He thought about asking him to cut out of school early to go for a hunt – whether it was needed or not.

"Ask me again at the end of lunch," Edward responded out loud.

Alice narrowed her eyes and poked her mate's shoulder. "I don't think so. You're not cutting out of class early. We've already missed three days last week because of the sun. We can't miss anymore than we don't have to. We've only been here for a month; it'll make a bad impression."

"I thought Edward was supposed to be the mind reader," Jasper snarked around the mangled plastic in his mouth.

"Don't be a wise ass," Alice retorted as the rest of the table chuckled.

Jasper turned his attention back to the window, watching as the water droplets from a light drizzle trailed their way down the pane.

_Couldn't have picked a better place to be inconspicuous,_ he mused, thinking of the perpetually overcast days since they got here.

Not that he minded. He had a soft spot for the rain, considering it played such a significant role in his life and had been there for all his biggest milestones.

It had been raining, the sky rumbling with thunder and flashing with lightning, as he stood at the center of a small town as it burned around him (the rain doing little to douse the flames) and the sound of screams and laughter in the air. He had looked up to the sky, allowing the rain to cleanse the blood that stained his face and emulate the tears that could no longer fall when he finally decided – after almost 80 years of death and destruction – to walk away from the Southern Wars and never look back.

Ten years later, while passing through Philadelphia during a mild – and not particularly worrisome – hurricane he had stumbled across Alice in a diner there, a smile on her face as she held out her hand and promised him friendship and better life. He tried animal blood for the first time that night, sinking his teeth into the soggy fur of a bear as a watchful Alice looked on and truly believing for the first time that there was another way.

And both of them had been soaked when they finally found the Cullens almost a year later and stood dripping on their doorstep waiting to be cautiously invited in. The memory of Alice throwing herself in a confused yet elated – though he hadn't been sure why at the time – Edward's arms and knocking them both to the floor was still a favorite of his.

Roughly five years after that, it had been threatening rain all day as he and Carlisle spoke in his study about his progress with his thirst. After being a human drinker for such a long time, it had taken him a while to gain firm control over it and, in that time, he had preferred to keep human interaction to a minimum. But that day, as he looked out the window just in time to catch the first drop as it splattered across the pane, he had told Carlisle that he was ready.

He had been enrolled in school, just in time for the new school year, the very next week.

With a huffed laugh – and perhaps a touch of cynicism – he wondered what life-changing event would happen to him today.

"What's so funny?" Emmett asked.

"The rain," he replied absently.

Emmett glanced out the window and, not finding anything particularly humorous, turned a confused look to Jasper. "What's so funny about the rain?"

Jasper shrugged, but grinned when he saw the soft look on Alice's face out of the corner of his eye and the smile that her and Edward shared.

The smile quickly transformed into a wince as he caught the reflection of a girl in the window the, 'I got cramps, get the hell away from me look', simmering just beneath the tight smile on her lips and he quickly tuned into Alice's emotions which – save for the really bad days – blared the 'life is fabulous!' channel twenty four hours a day.

He could admit that this was still a bit of a sore spot when it came to school. As happy he was that he could control his thirst enough not to feel the need to lunge at the nearest freshman, he only wished that the same applied to his gift. His biggest problem was that teenagers felt _everything_ so strongly – one bad grade or the end of a relationship and life was pretty much _over_ – which made controlling it twice as hard. Times that by over 200 students and...well, Jasper suspected it was almost time to take another long break from school.

Allowing Alice's familiar emotions to center him, he let his thoughts wander again, almost missing Emmett when he exclaimed, "Fresh meat!" in an excited whisper.

Alice crumpled up her unused napkin and threw it at him. "Don't call the new girl that!" she hissed. "It's creepy. She has a name, you know." When Emmett quirked his eyebrow in an inquisitive, _'what is it then?'_ look, she tapped her chin in thought. "I think I heard someone say it was Isabella."

"New girl?" Jasper inquired lazily. "Maybe that'll finally drag the attention away from us." Even though it was to be expected no matter where they went, he was getting tired of being stared at as if they were all a new exhibit at the zoo.

As he turned to look at where Edward was subtly motioning, his nose registered the scent of peaches in the air half a second later. Not just regular peaches, no, this different. _Unique_. And one he hadn't smelt in five years.

It was like everything was moving in slow motion after that.

As his eyes immediately zeroed in on the new girl, despite no further description from Edward, he felt as if he'd been punched in the gut. There was a suddenly a loud choking sound in the air that Jasper didn't realize was coming from him until a panicked Alice called out his name.

"Jasper? Jasper!" she repeated when he didn't answer her. "Edward, what the hell is wrong with him!?"

"I don't know," he responded in a shrill whisper. "He's cycling through his thoughts too quickly. I can't make heads or tails of it." He frowned in concentration. "Wait... there's something... Photograph?" he muttered confusedly.

The word startled Jasper out of his daze and he jumped to his feet, noisily knocking over the chair and drawing the attention of almost everyone in the cafeteria.

"I need to get out of here. Now."

He turned and headed towards the doors that lead outside to a small courtyard. Thankfully enough common sense remained that he didn't use vampire speed to get there. He ignored the concerned calls of his family as he burst through the doors and ran out into the sudden downpour the drizzle had turned into, heading for the woods that bordered the outer edge of the school.

Had he listened to his family and turned back, he would have seen the new girl staring at the space he had vacated – the same disbelief in her dark brown eyes.

**-oo-**

Jasper collapsed to the ground, ignoring the soggy squelch of the muddy forest floor beneath his knees.

_It's her._

That had been the mantra in his head ever since his first glimpse of the girl Alice had called Isabella. His hand dove into his back pocket – ripping it in the process – and he withdrew his wallet. With shaky fingers he extracted the two hidden photographs, carefully unfolding the creased material and found himself looking at the second photo – the one where his mystery girl was still human.

Though the picture had faded slightly, he was still able to make out the details. Pale skin, a slight blush high on her cheeks, dark brown hair, brown eyes and the shoulders of a dark green hoodie. It was an exact – down to the sweater – replica of the girl in the cafeteria.

"It's her," he muttered out loud. "Isabella."

Elation burst in his chest at the thought that he could now put a name to the face.

She was real.

_Now what?_ he wondered, sitting back heavily on his haunches when he realized he had no clue what to do. He had only recently begun trying to convince himself to give up on the hopeless endeavor. To stop wishing for a woman who probably didn't exist.

But there she was, clear as day – living, breathing, _real_ – and he had no idea what to do about it.

_Do I just walk up to her in the hallway and shove the picture in her face?_ His laughter was a touch hysterical at the imagined look she'd give him before he sobered at the thought that it would probably be followed by a restraining order.

His mind had no trouble conjuring up the scenario.

_"What are you, stalking me, taking photos and photo shopping yourself in you freak?!"_

_So do I befriend her and slowly get to know her_? He groaned and lowered his head to his hands. _Who am I kidding; I have the social skills of a rock._

It wasn't that he was antisocial – at least not the extent of Rose, who simply couldn't be bothered to interact with humans more than she had too – he just wasn't very good at it. Put him in front of a group of newborns or other vampires and he could deal with them swiftly – an air of authority and suave nonchalance permeating his actions. Put him in front of a person and expect him to make small talk and he'd develop a sudden case of muteness.

More often than not, he'd walk away without saying a word – leaving the person with nothing more than the thought that he was the rudest bastard ever. Next to Rose, out of all the Cullens, he was considered the most unapproachable.

He heard the photos crumple in his hand and pulled back to look at them. _Maybe finding out more about the picture should be my first step._

It had been roughly 12:30 when he left the caf, so if he ran – _really_ ran – than he could probably make it to that same mall two states over before it closed. Deciding that plan sounded better than nothing, he tucked the photos back into his wallet and jammed it into his pocket (immediately transferring it to his right pocket when he realized how badly he had ripped the left).

Getting to his feet, he brushed at the mud on his knees, which only succeeded in smearing it all over his hands. Reflexively, he wiped it on the light grey pullover he wore, than glanced down and winced when he realized how disheveled he looked.

_Can't go to the mall looking like a vagrant, _he thought, angling his body towards his house and taking off in a run. _Might get thrown out by security before I get any answers. Ten minutes to change my clothes – I'll still make it before close._

He hoped.

**-oo-**

Thankfully the weather managed to be a lot less miserable after he crossed the Forks border and he walked into the mall with thirty minutes to spare looking only slightly damp and a little windswept.

He carded a hand through his messy blond waves, oblivious to the appreciative glances he got at the action. He hadn't been in this mall since that day, but thanks to his near perfect vampire memory, he had no trouble finding his way back to the wing that held the mysterious photo booth.

His trepidation grew with each step closer and he paused at the last corner and took a deep, steadying breath. After one last word of encouragement, he stepped around the corner, his golden eyes immediately seeking out and finding...

He froze.

The photo booth was _gone_.

Even the wall it had been sitting against was gone, replaced instead by a store front to a clothing store with an angry sounding name and even angrier music pumping out of it. He scanned the remaining area, finding nothing more than the store that had been undergoing renovations the last time he was in, a skate shop that hadn't been here before, the same bank of candy machines and a small kiosk that looked – and smelled – like it was selling scented candles.

_Maybe it's been moved_, he thought hopefully, making his way towards the dimly lit clothing store with intentions of asking an employee. A woman with blue hair and tattoos decorating her left arm made a bee-line towards him the minute he walked through the entrance.

"Can I help you?" she purred, batting her heavily made up eyes at him flirtatiously.

Not one to beat around the bush, Jasper pointed over his shoulder. "There used to be a photo booth out there."

The woman pouted when he refused to respond to her advances. "A photo booth?" she repeated, playing with the neckline of her lacy corset in an attempt to draw his attention to the cleavage that was on display.

Jasper didn't even drop his gaze. "Yeah, right where this store used to be."

Seeing that he wasn't the slightest bit interested, the helpfulness disappeared from her eyes. "You don't say," she replied boredly.

"Do you know what happened to it? Has it been moved somewhere?"

"Sorry. I have no idea what you're talking about. I only started working here last month."

"Well, is there another employee here you could ask?" he questioned, scanning the empty store and failing to notice the guy behind him cocking his head curiously.

"Nope," she responded with faux sweetness. "I'm the only one here." There was a muffled thump and a curse from behind the door at back marked **_EMPLOYEES ONLY_** that proved she was lying, but he couldn't be bothered to call her out on it.

"Thanks anyways," he muttered as he left, thinking to himself that it must be this malls policy to only hire bitchy people to work in their stores.

"Wait up, man," he heard someone call behind him. He turned to watch a guy in his early twenties with bright red hair, wearing baggy jeans and a dark blue t-shirt jogging over to him.

"I heard you asking about that clunky ass photo booth in there," he said, jerking his thumb behind him.

"You work there?" Jasper asked, eying his clothes.

"At emo central?" the guy laughed. "Nah, I work at the skate shop. I was just trying to get the new girl's number." He frowned. "Might change my mind though, chick seems like a bitch."

Jasper sighed as he studied the man's boyishly open face, certain he was the type who easily got off track. "So, the photo booth?"

The guy rocked back on his feet. "You know, I've worked at this mall for the last six years. Three in the food court, three in the skate shop–" he found it necessary to point out, "–and I never even knew we had that thing."

Jasper resisted the urge to make a, 'get on with it', motion.

"But had a thing for the girl at Trendz," he motioned to the clothing store – the same one that had been undergoing renovations five years ago – behind Jasper, "at the time, so I was here when it went down."

"When what went down?"

He grinned. "Some crazy dude beat the shit out of it."

Jasper frowned. "Why?"

"Oh, he was ranting and raving so it was hard to hear the whole thing, but from the gist of it, he'd taken pictures with his wife – some hot blonde piece – and apparently some other dude showed up in the picture. Guy took it as a sign his wife was cheating on him." He laughed. "Clearly the man had issues. Dude was like, 6'5 and about 300 pounds of solid muscle and he ended up going all Mike Tyson on the damn thing and didn't stop until security pulled him away. Thing was a dented, smoking mess by the time crazy town was done with it."

"What happened to it?"

The guy shrugged. "What do you think happened to it? It was a busted old machine the mall couldn't be bothered to fix. Probably rusting in some dump somewhere."

"Nick! Get your lazy ass over here and help close up!" A similarly dressed man yelled from the skate shop.

"Don't get your dick it a knot!" the aforementioned Nick yelled over his shoulder before he looked back at Jasper. "Why you so curious anyways? That thing show you a picture of your girl with someone else or something?" he sniggered.

"Something like that," Jasper muttered. "Thanks for the help."

Nick shoved his hands in his pocket and grinned. "No problem, man." He turned and began loping lazing towards the skate shop, laughing as he flipped off the man who was pulling a stand of shoes into the store.

Jasper stood in the same place for a few long minutes until a voice over the intercom announced that the mall was closing.

Realizing he had hit a dead end, he did the only thing he could do.

He went back home.

**-oo-**

"Where have you been?" Alice demanded, leaping off his bed the minute he had crawled through his bedroom window. Her arms were crossed and her small foot was tapping impatiently.

Jasper's shoulders slumped. He had been expecting the third degree when he got home and had opted out of going through the front door in order to avoid the inevitable 'family meeting' that would be waiting for him in the living room. _And here I thought I was being stealthy,_ he thought, smirking when Edward snorted behind her.

"Taking mothering lessons from Esme?" Jasper asked out loud, pulling off his jacket and slinging it across his dresser.

"You've been gone all night," she accused.

"I went hunting."

She frowned. "You left like a bat outta hell at lunch."

"I went hunting," he repeated flatly.

"Without telling anyone? You didn't even answer your phone."

"You're not my keeper," he said angrily, regretting his words the minute Alice's eyes darkened with hurt.

"No, I'm your sister and I'm concerned about you." She gestured at Edward. "_We're_ concerned about you. Now," she pointed towards the bench seat underneath the window, "tell us what's going on."

He sunk tiredly into the plush cushion. "It's complicated." He noticed Edward's look and began humming The Battle Hymn of the Republic in his head to keep him from hearing his thoughts. "I'm sorry, man," he explained. "But just this once, I need my thoughts to be mine alone."

Edward nodded understandingly. "Does this have anything to do with the new girl?" he managed to guess anyways.

Jasper wasn't surprised, he hadn't exactly been subtle.

"Were you tempted by her?" Edward asked seriously.

_Yes, but not in the way you're thinking._ Jasper waited for Edward to react, but when he didn't he knew he had kept his promise not to deliberately tune into his thoughts.

"No. I just..." he sighed. "I told you, it's complicated."

"You don't have to keep secrets from us," Alice said softly. "Whatever it is, you know we won't judge you."

He felt the pictures burning a hole in his pocket. He had kept them secret for five years and it had almost driven him crazy. Perhaps it was finally time to tell someone.

Besides, the fact that Emmett had pointed her out and Edward had just brought her up, meant that she wasn't just a figment of his imagination – which, for a minute, he had genuinely worried about. She wasn't going to vanish into thin air.

"Alright," he agreed hesitantly. "Do you remember when we shopped for Edward's present at East Side Mall five years ago?"

"Of course," Alice replied.

"And that photo booth?"

"The one that wouldn't work you mean?"

He nodded and licked his bottom lip. "It did work... for me at least. I got bored and decided to try it."

"You willing got your picture taken?" Edward asked amusedly.

"Hey, I finally agreed to sit for that family portrait last year didn't I?" Jasper replied defensively.

Edward sniggered. "Yeah and it only took you fifty years."

Alice slapped his shoulder. "You're getting off track."

Jasper crossed over to the dresser and removed the picture of himself that he had buried under his clothes – the one he had never given Esme. "It gave you three prints. This is the first one."

"Oh, Jas," Alice murmured, venom misting her eyes. "I had no idea you were so lonely."

He shifted self-consciously and turned away. That was why he hadn't given Esme the photo. He was worried that his true emotions would stand out as starkly to them as it had to him.

_Guess I was right._

"Well," he said, clearing his throat uncomfortably. "Like I said, that was just the first one." He shakily withdrew his wallet from his pocket and once again removed the pictures. "This was the second," he said as he unfolded it and passed it to them.

Alice and Edward gazed jointly at the picture, disbelief quickly mounting in their emotions.

"Is this... is this real?" Alice asked hesitantly seconds before Edward added his own, "You're saying this was taken five years ago?"

"Yes to both questions."

"That would've made her roughly thirteen at the time," Edward muttered to himself. "She looks exactly the same as she does now."

"So we all agree this is the same girl?" Jasper replied, trying to keep the shrillness out of his voice. He had been concerned that he had seen brown hair and eyes and simply superimposed the rest.

"Oh yes," Alice breathed. "I don't know how, but it's her." She looked up at Jasper. "Why didn't you tell us about this?" she asked, looking positively crushed that he had hidden such a big secret.

"I'm sorry, Alice. On some level I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

He offered a half-hearted shrug, unsure of what the answer was.

"I suspect," Edward began tentatively, "that you were worried that we'd look at it and see nothing but you."

Jasper let out a startled laugh. "You know, it was something almost like that. I've been a vampire for a long time and, even if I never admitted it out loud, half that time I had wished I had –" he rubbed at the back of his neck self-consciously "–_someone_." He shot a small, meaningful smile at Alice. "Meeting you, Alice, you were my first real friend and then eventually becoming a part of this family helped for a little while, but with three mated pairs, it got a lot harder to ignore."

Alice's pretty face twisted with guilt. "I'm sorry, we didn't mean to be –"

"You didn't mean to love your other half?" He chuckled. "Don't even apologize for that, it makes me feel like an ass." He took the picture from them. "When I saw this, I finally felt that I might get that too. But she wasn't real," he whispered brokenly. "She only existed in a picture and, for the longest time, I thought she was a figment of my imagination – that I saw her because I desperately wanted to."

"Oh, Jas," Alice murmured again, jumping up from the bed to pull him into a bone-crushing hug. "I'm sorry I didn't see her."

"No worries. Apparently there was a photo booth out there picking up the slack," he teased.

She growled and popped him lightly in the abdomen. "I wonder why I didn't see her," she muttered as she sat back down beside Edward. "I mean, not even a glimpse."

Edward cleared his throat. "I might be able to shed some light on that. She was staring at our table after you left and I tried to pick up her thoughts. I couldn't hear anything."

"Nothing?" Jasper replied, stunned. In fifty years, he had never known a vampire – let alone a human – that could completely block Edward's gift.

"Not a peep," he said, looking faintly bemused at the revelation. "I tried again when I passed her in the hall and still nothing."

"So she's blocking your gifts?" he clarified hesitantly, wondering if it extended to him as well. The thought of never feeling her emotions – and hopefully someday, her love – saddened him.

"Possibly," Edward mused. "It could be a latent gift of some sort. I doubt she's even aware she's doing it. We could ask Carlisle if he knows anything more."

"If what you're saying is true, I'd prefer not to inform Carlisle of it this early. You know how he gets when he's eager to learn something new."

"He's right," Alice agreed. "The poor girl would be poked and prodded the minute she walked through the door."

Jasper's heart leapt at the insinuation that she'd be close enough to visit his house... his room... his _bed. _He shuddered. _Slow down, cowboy. You haven't even spoken to her yet._

"You said you had _three_ photos." Edward's voice pulled him away from the naughty direction his thoughts had gone.

"Mmhmm," he replied, handing over the final photo.

Alice and Edward burst into laughter at the silly faces.

"You both look so happy!" she exclaimed.

"Look closer," Jasper encouraged.

Alice gasped. "She's a vampire!"

"And," Edward added, bringing the faded photo closer to his eyes, "you appear to be married." He tapped the surface with his finger, pointing out the matching bands to Alice.

She squealed and once again threw herself in Jasper's arms. "You're going to get married! Please say you'll let me plan your wedding," she begged, bouncing up and down in his loose embrace.

"Hold on, Ali," Edward laughed. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

"Yeah, I haven't even talked to her yet. There's no guarantee she'll even like me."

"Oh," Alice countered, gently waving the photo in the air. "I'm pretty sure this is definitive proof she will."

He snatched the picture out of her hand. "Remind me again how many possible outcomes there are to your visions," he replied sarcastically.

Alice scowled. "My visions might not always be clear, but you can't get much clearer than this, buddy. Besides," she continued in a sing-song voice, "a little birdie asked about you after you left."

Jasper snapped his head up to hers. "You mean..."

"We have the same class last period – she introduced herself as Bella by the way – and she wanted to know if you were alright. She seemed very concerned." Alice grinned. "It was adorable."

"Oh great," Jasper groaned. "No doubt she thinks I'm two cards short of a deck. Probably asked out of pity."

"I don't know. That pretty little blush on her face and the shy way she averted her eyes would say differently. So, what's the plan?"

"Plan?" Jasper deadpanned.

"Yeah, plan. You can't just run up to her and shout, 'we're married in a picture a mysterious booth took of us!'"

"Why not?" Jasper asked sarcastically. "She already thinks I'm the crazy guy." He looked at the picture in his hand again. "God knows I've felt like a crazy guy for the last five years." He swallowed thickly as he traced a finger down the features of her face. "How do you tell someone you've loved them before you even met them?"

Alice laughed lightly. "You'd be surprised how easy it is," she said, lacing her fingers with Edward's and smiling when he lifted her hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles.

"It was different for you and Edward, Alice," he argued. "You're both vampires. You could feel the connection the moment you met."

"Esme and Emmett," Alice countered calmly. "Both were still human when they met Carlisle and Rose and both agreed they felt the pull _before_ they were turned."

"You have a counter argument for everything, don't you?" Jasper grumbled.

She smirked. "Which is exactly why you should stop trying to argue with me. Now, tell me what you're plan is!"

"I'll let you know when I know," he grumbled.

**-oo-**

Turned out his plan was to ignore her.

Granted, it wasn't the most well thought out plan, but it was better than the gape-fished mess he had turned into the next day when Alice had seen it fit to drag over her new friend over and introduce them.

Emmett, being Emmett, had thought the whole thing hilarious – taking it on as his own personal duty to tease him about it until Jasper had finally sent him flying into a copse of trees. Rose had been disgusted by his infatuation at first, until finally after a week of this, he had sat the whole family down and told them the story he had told Alice and Edward.

**-oo-**

Rose held the picture the same way someone picking a dirty tissue off the floor would. "Is this **really** real?" she asked, the same hint of disgust and skepticism in her voice that he imagined would be in Bella's every time he thought about showing it to her.

Having already answered the same question moments earlier from both Carlisle and Esme, Jasper frowned in irritation. "_Yes_," he stressed.

The frown deepened when she shot a suspicious look at Emmett and flipped the picture over, as if expecting to see, **April Fool's**, written on it in her mates familiar messy scrawl – even though it was nowhere near April.

"I had nothing to do with it, babe," Emmett said, casually stretching his arm out over the back of the couch. He seemed to be the least affected by the picture, simply taking it in stride like he did everything else in life, which seemed to irk Rose a little.

"You realize how impossible this is, right?"

Emmett chuckled. "We're vampires, Rosie. We're pretty much a walking contradiction to the word impossible."

Rose rolled her eyes, schooling her look into one of bored disinterest as she placed the picture back down on the table with the other two.

"And you say this was taken at a photo booth at the... mall?" Carlisle asked hesitantly.

Jasper grimaced and ran a hand through his hair. "Trust me, Carlisle. A clunky old booth at a mall in the middle of suburbia spitting out that?" He gestured towards the pictures. "I know how crazy this all sounds."

"Not crazy," Esme replied soothingly. "Just... unexpected."

Jasper smirked. "Which is a polite way of saying crazy."

Esme gave him that, 'I'm not amused, mister,' look that all mother's seemed to be in possession of, but Jasper could see a faint smile tugging at one corner of her mouth.

"Do you know anything more about it?" Carlise asked.

Jasper sighed and shook his head. "I've googled the hell out of," he admitted, pausing to flip Emmett off when a lecherous grin split his face and a softly muttered, "Giggity," left his lips. "I didn't really have much to go on. I don't remember seeing a manufacturers name and every combination of search words I used led to nothing but ads for photos."

"You said a man attacked the photo booth, maybe it made the papers," Esme suggested helpfully.

"It did," Jasper replied. "It was really nothing more than a blurb, but it was enough to garner names."

"And?"

"Dead end." Jasper replied, pulling a face at the unintentionally dark pun. "The same names were in the paper a few weeks later. Domestic dispute that ended badly for the both of them."

Esme gasped. "You don't think it had anything to do with that booth, do you?"

Jasper shrugged. "I guess we'll never know." Secretly, he believed the answer was a big glaring **_yes_**. If that man had been angry enough to completely destroy an inanimate object, he was entirely capable of doing the same thing to his wife.

"So, what are you going to do?" Emmett asked curiously as he leaned over to once again study the pictures.

"Yes, Jasper, what _are_ you going to do?" Alice cut in, a hint of ice in her voice. Jasper knew she was growing increasingly impatient with his avoidance issues.

He crossed his arms and looked away. "I'm working myself up to it."

She scoffed. "If you're talking about yesterday and the 2.5 seconds of eye contact you made without cringing, I'd have to say you're taking your sweet time."

"Give me a break, Alice," he snapped. "You have no idea how messed up this whole situation is." He stormed over to the pictures and picked them up. "That woman probably _died_ over pictures exactly like this, because the man who had seen them couldn't deal. So excuse me if I'm a still a little unsure of the exact way to approach this."

Alice opened her mouth to protest.

"Ali," Edward gently chastised, pulling her down into his lap and lightly pinching her lips together. "Jasper's got a point." He tilted his head, clearly listening to her thoughts. "I know you want him to be happy, sweetheart and I know that you're frustrated you can't see what's going to happen..." He trailed off and looked up at Jasper sheepishly.

Jasper groaned. He had been hoping to put off that part until the _next_ conversation.

"You can't see her?" Carlisle asked, an intrigued 'new information' glow in his golden eyes.

He sighed. Now that it had been brought up, he might as well get it out of the way. He nodded at Alice and Edward, giving his permission for them to answer Carlisle.

"Not entirely," Alice replied, her lower lip jutting out into a pout. "I get kinda rough, blurry images sometimes, but nothing substantial."

"And I can't hear her thoughts," Edward added. "At all."

"Hmm," Carlisle said, lightly stroking his chin. "What about you, Jasper?"

"Bits and pieces like Alice," he replied, resisting the urge to squirm. He suspected his had less to do with whatever latent gift Edward had suggested she had and more to do with his limited proximity to her.

Carlisle leaned back against the low set of drawers he stood in front of. "Well, I've heard of things like this before during my time with the Volturi. They used to look into any rumors of gifted humans and there were a few times they turned out to be true."

Volturi. Now there was a can of worms Jasper would prefer _never_ to open.

"What did they usually do with them?" he asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

Carlisle shifted. "If they suspected they could be kept easily under their thumb, they'd be turned. If not..." he cleared his throat. "Well, I'm sure you could imagine."

Jasper growled lowly. He could, but if they even thought of taking Bella from him, he'd show them why he'd earned the nickname the God of War during his time in the Southern Wars.

Seeing the tense set of his shoulders and the way Jasper's fingers were curling and uncurling, Carlisle was quick to assure him. "Don't worry, son. For the last decade, the Volturi has shown very little interest in our lives." He looked at his assembled family and chuckled warmly. "We're a little too... what's the word I'm looking for?"

"Vanilla?" Emmett suggested.

He laughed again. "Yes, I suppose that fits. And as long as we don't break the rules or draw unnecessary attention to ourselves, it will continue to stay that way." His face grew stern. "But, Jasper, that does mean that if we... _when_ you," he corrected with more confidence than Jasper was feeling at the moment, "invite this girl into our lives, important decisions will have to be made."

Rose attempted to protest. "Carlisle, you can't possibly –"

"No one denied you your mate, Rose," he said authoritatively. "So, I'm sorry, but you have no right to deny him his."

Rose huffed angrily and stood, walking stiffly from the living room.

Instead of running after her, Emmett watched her go before looking up at Jasper. "She'll come around."

**-oo-**

Emmett had been _slightly_ right.

While Rose still remained skeptical – and nowhere near friendly – she did stop glaring at him and forced herself to be civil whenever Bella was in the near vicinity. Which – considering her rapidly budding friendship with Alice – started to be a lot.

In fact the whole family was slowly getting to know and like the endearingly clumsy girl who managed to be soft spoken and cleverly cheeky.

Everyone but him.

As desperate as he was to listen to Alice (whose – despite her mate's advice had only given Jasper a one day respite – gentle prodding was rapidly shifting into loud demands) and approach Bella, the same photos that had led her to him, were now holding him back.

He felt like they were something he shouldn't have, almost as if they were nudie shots, and contemplated burning them once or twice. He was constantly afraid that she'd stumble on them by accident (which was impossible because he kept them on his person). But it soon became a legitimate fear. So much, that he stopped carrying them in his wallet, instead transferring them to a small safe in his room.

He felt like he had to live up to the future in those photos. Constantly worried that he would mess up and someday, she'd fade away.

And once again, he'd be alone.

**-oo-**

He was in his third consecutive week of ignoring Bella, when Alice cornered him at school, pulling him into an unused classroom.

"What the hell are you doing?" she hissed.

"Well, I was going to class," he drawled.

"Now's not the time to be a smart ass, Jasper Whitlock. You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"I don't know if I'm ready."

"Ready to even talk to her?" she asked incredulously. "To offer a simple, 'hey', instead of avoiding her like the plague? She thinks you hate her."

The venom in his veins froze. "What?" he whispered.

"You've rebuffed every attempt she's made to get to know you, so what else would she think?"

"I didn't mean to. It's just that every time she's around me, I think of that damn picture and –"

"And what?" Alice demanded.

"I realize what I'd lose if I failed."

Alice's eyes darkened. "Well, maybe you should stop treating her like some goal you have to achieve. She's just a girl, Jasper, a girl trying desperately to connect with her mate. You say you're scared to fail, but what you don't realize is you're already failing."

Jasper closed his eyes as the painful truth of Alice's words hit him. In trying not to do or say the wrong thing, he'd been unaware that he'd been doing the wrong thing all along.

"How do I fix this?"

Alice shifted the bag on her shoulder. "I'm in the dark when it comes to Bella, remember?" she said with a small smirk. "You have to figure this one out yourself." She walked over to the door and opened it. "For your sake, you better hope she's willing to give you a second chance."

**-oo-**

He stood in that classroom for what felt like hours, staring blankly at the wall and cursing himself for messing things up as badly as he had.

"Shouldn't you be in class, son?"

Jasper turned towards the voice. It wasn't a teacher (good thing because he really didn't feel like staying after school today) but the grizzled old janitor, leaning against his mop and chewing lazily on what smelt like cherry flavored tobacco.

"Yeah," Jasper replied numbly. "Class."

"Well get going," the man ordered gruffly, stepping to the side and gesturing his mop towards the door. "Gotta clean this classroom."

"Sorry," Jasper muttered, lowering his head and making his way towards the door.

"I hope it works out for you and whatever girl put that look on your face," the man called out.

Jasper stopped, one foot over the threshold, and looked over at him. "How do you know it's about girl?"

The old man grinned, showing off a set of tobacco stained teeth. "Isn't it always?"

Jasper barked out a laugh and continued out the door. He stopped in the middle of the empty hallway, wincing when the bell directly over his head shrilled loudly, signalling the final period.

He remained in the same place as the doors to the classrooms opened and people spilled out into the hallway – giving him a wide berth as usual. He looked up and caught Alice and Edward at the other end of the hall, both wearing twin looks of concern. He jerked his thumb in the other direction (towards a set of doors that lead outside) and mouthed that he would see them at home. They nodded and laced hands, walking off to their next class.

Checking to see that no teachers were looking in his direction, Jasper pushed his way out the doors and, instead of heading for the house; he veered off towards the woods.

Just as it started raining.

* * *

**_I know Jasper's being a bit of a wimp, but the way I see it: War Jasper (as I like to call it) is calm, cool, collected. But Real Jasper is a little withdrawn and unsure of himself. I got that vibe from the movies a lot, you know? I mean, there was confidence definitely (more so in Eclipse) but a vulnerability as well._**

**_I'll try my best to hog-tie my mind into focusing on the next - and probably last - part. _**


End file.
